Embodiments of the inventive concept relate generally to wearable electronic healthcare appliances and more particularly to electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor chips configured for use in wearable healthcare appliances, systems-on-chip incorporating such ECG sensor chips and related healthcare appliances.
Strong consumer demand for wearable healthcare appliances (hereafter, simply “appliances”) capable of monitoring and recording health conditions has followed a growing social emphasis on personal responsibility in health matters. With continued improvements in the miniaturization of electronics, consumers are now able to obtain small, portable devices capable of providing monitoring, recording, and/or displaying a number of health-related conditions. Many of these devices are “wearable” in the sense that they are conveniently configured for use in a manner that allows a user to comfortably wear the device for periods of time.
There are many different characteristics of a person's body that—when properly monitored and interpreted—provide meaningful information regarding the overall health of the person. One important characteristic is the electrical signal(s) associated with operation of the heart. It is well recognized that the heart's electrical activity may be monitored by a set of routine medical tests commonly referred to as an electrocardiogram (ECG).
An ECG may be administered for a variety of reasons including; checking on the overall activity of a heart, identifying the cause of unexplained chest pain like the pain commonly associated with heart attack, pericarditis and angina, identifying the cause certain symptoms commonly associated with heart disease such as shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting and heart palpitations, monitoring the effect of certain medicines on the heart, checking on the operation of mechanical devices implanted in the heart, and defining a health baseline to better monitor chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking and diabetes.
The typical ECG is administered in a doctor's office to a reclining patient by carefully attaching ten (10) electrical leads to designated locations on the patient's body and thereafter recording a set of electrical signals over a period of time. While indisputably useful to medical professionals and harmless to the patient, the typical ECG is far from convenient.
More recently, improved techniques have allowed an ECG-like monitoring of heart-related bioelectrical signals using a wearable device instead of a clumsy set of electrical leads. In this manner, certain aspects of a person's physical condition may be conveniently monitored over longer periods of time outside of a doctor's office. However, such portable devices have heretofore suffered from signal detection problems and significant constrains on acceptable wearable locations of such devices on a person's body. That is, when conventional wearable devices capable of detecting an ECG-like signal are randomly positioned on a person's body the diagnostic results are often disappointing.